Same strategy, different results. Nedohin and Team Canada can hold their heads high

LETHBRIDGE — Let’s be very clear right from the get-go: to all those who think Heather Nedohin somehow changed her game plan for today’s bronze-medal game against the same South Korean team that neutral-zone-trapped her in the Page three-four game on Saturday, you’d be wrong.

You’d also be wrong to suggest that Nedohin didn’t try to force the issue on Saturday. She did. Every end she didn’t have hammer, she put the centre-guard up. That’s a very clear sign of forcing the issue, and she’s getting an undeserved bad rap for her strategic approach.

The problem Saturday was the follow-up shots to continue forcing the issue. They weren’t made consistently enough, leading to hits that rolled out of the rings and allowing the Koreans to go up and peel the centre guard.

On Sunday, the hits were made, the rolls were made, and the Koreans couldn’t peel their way out of ends.

Plain and simple — it wasn’t strategy, it was execution. It always is. And the execution was much better on Sunday (even though the stats may not show it, but that’s a consequence of more difficult shots being called).

And with those shots being made, it was obvious on Sunday which team had found a comfort zone, although you have to give the Koreans credit for hanging touch and having a chance to tie it in the 10th end. Ji-Sun Kim’s team was splendid here, and it’s exciting to see another Asian nation take a significant step forward on the granite scene. I think it would be a terrific move by the World Curling Federation to have Kim’s squad be a part of the Team World for the Continental Cup next winter in Penticton, B.C.

Although before that happens, it might be an idea for someone with experience to have a word with Kim about her on-ice behaviour. As demonstrative as Nedohin can be on the ice, she’s never done anything to show up an opponent during a game. Kim, on the other hand, was very obviously hopping in delight when Nedohin was heavy on her draw in the fourth end, leading to a deuce for the Koreans. I saw nothing malicious in Kim’s hopping — just pure excitement. But it’s not the right thing to do in that circumstance, and it wasn’t the first time she had done it.

So the Canadian gold-medal dry-spell in this event goes on. It’s been four years since O Canada was played at a medal ceremony at the women’s worlds, and that may be alarming to some, and a sign that our national women’s program is in trouble.

But let’s dispose of the notion that Canada is pre-ordained to win gold every time a national women’s team steps onto the ice. It’s just not the case. Hasn’t been in a long time, in fact. The playing field around the world in women’s curling is a lot more level than in men’s, and it should be considered an achievement for Canadian teams just to hit the medal podium at a women’s worlds. The Canadian redneck in me wants to believe that it’s gold or nothing, but it’s not fair to put those expectations on Team Canada. Pressure, yes. There should be pressure on a Canadian team to perform on the world stage. But to say that a world championship was a failure for a Canadian team that doesn’t win gold is ridiculous.

The question can be asked: are we doing enough to produce world champions? That’s a good debate to have.

It was telling that the Swedes had a full group of youths from their national curling academy in Lethbridge, cheering on Margaretha Sigfridsson’s teams. The high-schoolers are identified at an early age as curling prospects, and they attend school and curl on a full-time basis in the winter.

According to Scottish coach Rhona Martin, the national-team program begins its off-season training program in mid-April, and there will be on-ice training throughout the summer.

And, of course, the Chinese and Korean teams are training fiends, spending up to six hours a day on the ice during the season.

Are we falling behind?

Keep in mind a few things when you ponder this question. First, we have geography working against us. The curling populations in other countries are easy to bring together for training opportunities. That’s simply not the case in Canada.

As well, we have so much more depth than the other countries that the World Curling Tour season provides training opportunities to our elite teams that simply aren’t available to other countries.

And, the fact is more money is being spent on national-team athletes. Own the Podium money has helped provide training and research opportunities. There is far more ice available in the summer than used to be the case. There’s a support network working with the top teams in the country that doesn’t show up in the TV shots at the Scotties and world championship, all trying to find those three or four shooting percentage points that will make a difference between gold, silver, bronze and fourth place.

Is it perfect? Of course not. But the fact is, the effort is being put in, and it’s an evolving process.

As for Heather Nedohin, Beth Iskiw, Jessica Mair, Laine Peters, Amy Nixon, Darryl Horne and Elaine Dagg-Jackson? I say congratulations. It’s not an easy thing to do what they did here in Lethbridge. As mentioned before, there was nothing guaranteed when Team Canada arrived here. They played through some tough circumstances and stepped up.

It wasn’t gold. But the smiles on their faces on Sunday told you it was almost as good as. They wore the Maple Leaf well.

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